You're young, female, and terrified by the very real prospect of being hit by a Hezbollah missile. What better way to deal with your trauma than to go and sign your name or write a nasty message on a shell about to be fired into Lebanon.  

(Never mind that the shell you signed is far more likely to kill a Lebanese child than a Hezbollah fighter, but anyway…)

This well-known photo is an interesting contrast to all the footage we've been seeing of gun-carrying Hezbollahi young men. The Hezbollahis are made to represent Arab/Muslim masculinity run amok, not only guilty of kidnapping, but also of penetrating the Israeli border time and again with erratic rocket attacks. Even their poorly aimed missiles—-erectile disfunction?—-still cause death and mayhem.

Israel, however, is being represented in this photo as innocent and vulnerable. Who can blame these young girls for strapping one on—-for appropriating these deadly phalluses supplied by the IDF and applauding their deployment against the threat of penetration coming in from the north?

A picture of Muslim children signing shells about to be unleashed on their enemies would be taken as one more piece of evidence that Muslim parents indoctrinate their offspring to hate and seek revenge. But this is because Muslims can't claim innocence. Not even Muslim girls. Because of who their ancestors were. And because they have been typed as belonging to a uniquely violent, masculinist faith. (IMO, it is abusive for any child, of any faith (or none), under any circumstances to be encouraged to sign shells. I would never allow my kids to do that. Ever.)

Fact is, though, all of the so-called Abrahamic traditions have problems with violence. They all eroticise domination. But some are more honest and forthright about it than others.

Christian feminist scholars in particular have done a great deal of work in the last few decades critiquing the eroticism of domination found in the Bible. Events in Bosnia in particular prompted much soul-searching on this score. To take one example, the biblical studies journal, Semeia, actually devoted an entire issue to this question following the revelations about Bosnian rape-camps.

Jewish feminists have also done some critical reflection on this issue. There is also an active and thriving Jewish women's peace movement.

But I don't see nearly as much critique on this score from Muslims, unfortunately, and that needs to change. But a few writers, such as Minoo Moallem, have written critically about how certain Muslim fundamentalist movements construct masculinity around ideals of jihad and martyrdom.

To me, its clear that, tempting as it may be to appropriate the phallus, in the end it will be turned against you. The Israeli girls in the photo will unfortunately have occasion to learn this when they grow up, if not before.